i 


fam . 


D 


World  Wide  Work  of  the  North  American  Young 

Men’s  Christian  Associations 

DR.  JOHN  R.  MOTT,  General  Secretary,  International  Committee 


A  survey  presented  at  the  North  American  Em¬ 
ployed  Officers’  Conference  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
on  the  evening  of  June  28,  1921  at  Lake 
Geneva,  Wisconsin. 

If  I  were  asked  to  characterize  the  past  signi¬ 
ficant  year  in  the  life  of  our  Young  Men’s  Chris¬ 
tian  Association  Movement,  I  would  say  that  it 
has  been  a  year  of  re-examination  of  conditions 
and  tendencies.  When  have  we  had  a  year  of  so 
many  searching  and  constructive  conferences? 
When  have  we  had  so  many  representative  com¬ 
missions  and  committees  studying  worthwhile 
questions?  Likewise,  it  has  been  a  year  of  read¬ 
justment  to  changed  conditions.  Oh,  how  changed! 
Old  things  have  literally  passed  away.  We  have 
had  a  year  of  reassertion  of  guiding  principles. 
Thank  God,  we  have  guiding  principles  that  never 
led  us  astray!  We  have  had  a  year  of  reviving 
of  convictions  and  of  reviving  of  spirit.  The  faces 
of  men  here  tonight  look  so  different  to  me  from 
what  they  did  a  year  ago.  The  physical  reaction 
and  nervous  tension  have  been  relieved.  We  have 
had  a  year  also  of  revealing  of  unrealized  possi¬ 
bilities  near  and  far. 

While  not  a  few  Associations  are  still  laboring 
under  serious  handicaps  occasioned  by  the  inter¬ 
ruptions  and  delays  of  the  war  period  and  the  gen¬ 
eral  reaction  and  exhaustion  in  the  wake  of  the 
war,  the  large  majority  of  them  have  worked 
their  way  back  to  the  normal  and  many  are  mov¬ 
ing  on  with  greater  strides  than  ever  and  with 
more  marked  achievements  than  during  the  fruit¬ 
ful  period  before  the  war.  If  we  may  judge  the 
success  of  an  organization  not  so  much  by  the 
volume  of  work  accomplished  as  by  the  number, 
extent  and  gravity  of  the  difficulties  surmounted 
in  achieving  the  results,  then  the  past  year  has 
been  truly  notable  in  point  of  success.  Think  of 
the  difficulties  with  which  we  have  had  to  grapple 
at  close  hand, — difficulties  economic  and  financial, 
difficulties  due  to  the  physical  condition  of  men, 
difficulties  due  to  the  prevailing  psychology  of  the 
North  American  nations  and  of  the  world,  diffi¬ 
culties,  we  must  admit  in  honesty,  moral  and 


spiritual.  The  year  has  presented  a  battle  field. 
This  has  not  been  without  its  advantages.  Our 
leaders  have  shown  their  real  leadership  in  re¬ 
cognizing  the  difficulties  as  added  opportunities 
for  growth  in  faith  and  character  and  for  large, 
constructive  achievement.  Any  organization 
which  can  carry  through  in  so  short  a  time  such 
a  stupendous  undertaking  as  the  war  work  of  the 
Associations,  notwithstanding  all  its  shortcom¬ 
ings  and  limitations,  without  dissolving  the  regu¬ 
lar  work,  and  that  can  within  two  or  three  years 
in  the  midst  of  the  difficult  process  of  demobiliza¬ 
tion  and  reaction  bring  its  work  back  to  a  higher 
degree  of  efficiency  than  ever,  affords  convincing 
proof  of  its  vitality  and  of  the  reliability  of  its 
principles  and  of  the  strength  of  its  leadership. 

Speaking  at  the  outset  of  the  Canadian  Asso¬ 
ciations,  let  me  state  that  the  Canadian  National 
Council  have  reduced  their  staff  in  order  to  bring 
it  down  to  meet  the  possibilities  of  a  most  diffi¬ 
cult  financial  situation.  This  has  helped  re-estab¬ 
lish  a  new  basis  of  more  solid  relationship  be¬ 
tween  the  local  Associations  of  Canada  and  their 
national  organization.  There  has  been  a  loosen¬ 
ing  of  the  ties  between  the  old  student  work  and 
the  boys’  work  of  the  Dominion  on  the  one  h~nd 
and  their  general  Association  Mo\  mient  on  A  - 
other  hand.  It  is  hoped  and  believed  that  pcer 
cesses  of  continued  negotiation  will  insure  a  r  js 
solidarity  and  larger  cooperation  than  ever.  Cco_ 
sees  up  and  down  Canada  evidences  of  the  risjgn 
and  moving  of  a  new  life.  One  notices  it  in 
growth  of  democracy  in  their  Movement,  in  thu 
enlarged  membership,  in  the  renewed  apprecia¬ 
tions  shown  by  the  Canadian  people  of  the  Asso¬ 
ciation  and  of  its  constructive  program. 

Turning  next  to  our  own  State  Work,  I  would 
say  that  with  the  exception  of  possibly  seven  or 
eight  state  organizations,  the  forty  or  more  State 
Committees  have  during  the  recent  difficult  year, 
not  only  held  their  own  but  improved  their  serv¬ 
ice.  State  work  is  far  more  widely  and  favor¬ 
ably  known  across  this  country  than  ever.  More 
and  more  men  entertain  that  larger  and  truer 
conception  of  state  work,  viewing  it  not  so  much 


as  an  agency  of  supervision  of  existing  work,  as 
an  agency  of  extension  and  of  state-wide  service. 
It  is  highly  reassuring  to  observe  how  general  has 
become  the  practice  of  State  Committees  to 
evolve,  revise  and  prosecute  a  real  state-wide 
policy.  The  marked  growth  and  loyalty  of  the 
financial  constituencies  of  most  State  Committees 
has  been  striking.  We  do  not  overlook  the  fact 
f  here  and  there  has  been  a  state  organization 
which  in  its  plans  has  over-reached  and  has  thus 
over-strained  its  financial  constituency;  nor  the 
fact  that,  just  as  certain  phases  of  international 
work  and  of  certain  local  Associations  are  open 
to  the  charge  of  being  led  by  men  who  are  in¬ 
adequate  to  their  tasks,  so  in  a  few  states  the 
leadership  is  not  sufficiently  strong. 

Passing  on  to  the  Home  Work  of  the  Interna¬ 
tional  Committee,  I  would  indicate  that  a  con¬ 
trolling  factor  in  shaping  the  policy  of  the  Inter¬ 
national  Committee  in  the  recent  past  has  been 
the  mandates  of  the  Detroit  Convention.  There 
has  been  no  Convention  in  years  which  gave  so 
many  clear  and  significant  mandates.  A  sincere 
effort  is  being  made  to  give  them  effect.  The 
regional  plan  is  now  taking  shape.  During  the 
year  regional  conferences  have  been  held  in  all  of 
the  five  regions.  The  Regional  Committees,  com¬ 
posed,  as  you  know,  of  the  members  of  the  Inter¬ 
national  Committee  in  the  respective  regions  and 
the  Chairmen  of  the  State  Committees,  ex-officio, 
in  those  regions,  have  been  constituted,  and  in  all 
but  one  case  have  begun  to  function.  The  pur¬ 
poses  of  this  regional  work  are,  I  trust,  clearly 
understood.  The  plan  involves  a  closer  coordina¬ 
tion  of  the  varied  work  of  the  International  Com¬ 
mittee  as  it  touches  a  given  region,  a  much  closer 
coordination  of  the  approaches  of  the  Internation¬ 
al  Committee  to  that  region,  an  effort  to  bring 
vividly  before  the  New  York  Headquarters  the 
desires  and  requirements  of  the  region,  an  effort 
also  to  make  much  better  known  to  a  given  region 
what  the  International  Committee  at  Headquart¬ 
ers,  and  in  its  wide-spread  work  throughout  the 
■^tinent,  is  able  to  supply.  In  a  word,  it  is  the 
■ginning  of  what  I  honestly  hope  is  going  to 
B)ve  to  be  a  much  further  decentralization  of  a 
Irk  that  has  been  all  too  much  concentrated.  I 
■  glad  to  notice  a  growing  interest  in  the  evolu- 
■1  and  the  application  of  the  plan.  The  results 
Would  be  a  much  better  service  to  local  Associa¬ 
tions,  for  that  is  the  end  in  view  in  all  of  these 
policies,  and  likewise,  to  this  end,  it  should  result 
in  a  strengthening  of  the  hands  of  State  Com¬ 
mittees. 

The  Shuey  Commission  appointed  at  the  Detroit 
Convention,  or  as  a  result  of  its  action,  has  begun 
the  study  of  the  simplification  of  the  internal 
working  of  the  International  Committee  organi¬ 
zation.  It  is  believed  by  some  that  the  In¬ 
ternational  organization  has  in  some  respects 
been  top-heavy.  It  has  not  been  without  its  ad¬ 
vantage  that  this  year  the  staff  has  been  con¬ 


siderably  reduced.  I  might  call  attention  to  an¬ 
other  action  taken  at  Detroit  in  calling  for  a  Bud¬ 
get  Reviewing  Committee.  This  committee  has 
rendered  valuable  service  each  of  the  two  succeed¬ 
ing  years.  We  have  had  also  the  valuable  co¬ 
operation  of  a  similar  committee  of  City  Associa¬ 
tion  General  Secretaries  who  with  downright 
frankness,  sympathy  and  thoroughness  have 
sought  to  understand  the  situation  and  point  the 
way  to  desired  improvements. 

We  see  the  result  of  the  work  of  these  two  com¬ 
mittees  not  only  in  reducing  the  Home  Work 
Budget  at  a  time  when  it  was  exceedingly  difficult 
to  make  a  reduction,  but  also  in  the  improvement 
of  the  methods  for  ensuring  desired  support. 

The  Commission  on  the  Colored  Work  has  help¬ 
ed  to  turn  a  difficult  corner.  It  had  thrust  upon  it 
by  Detroit  one  of  the  gravest  situations  in  the  As¬ 
sociation  world,  but  with  commendable  Christlike- 
ness  the  colored  men  and  white  men  of  the  South 
and  North  blended  their  spirit,  their  thought, 
their  purpose  with  results  that  I  am  persuaded 
carry  in  them  great  improvement  in  race  rela¬ 
tionships  and  also  in  the  work  for  colored  men. 

The  Army  and  Navy  Commission  had  one  of  the 
most  taxing  problems  placed  in  its  hands  but  it 
has  handled  it  in  a  way  that  should  be  commended 
by  the  whole  Brotherhood.  They  rose  to  their 
task  and  outlined  a  policy  that  marks  a  distinct 
advance  on  the  past  and  I  believe  will  prove  to 
be  entirely  workable. 

The  Commission  on  Convention  Representation 
and  Rules  seems  to  have  stirred  up  a  hornets’ 
nest.  There  is  not  time  to  discuss  the  implica¬ 
tions  of  this  report  but  I  trust  those  who  repre¬ 
sent  Associations  in  small  cities,  the  county  As¬ 
sociations,  the  Railroad  Associations  and  Student 
Associations,  not  to  mention  others,  will  make 
themselves  heard  at  some  later  session  of  this 
Conference  and  in  the  coming  numbers  of  Asso- 
ciation  Men. 

The  Commission  on  Approach  to  the  Churches 
has  one  of  the  most  important  and  let  us  frankly 
admit,  one  of  the  most  difficult  tasks  ever  put  in 
the  hands  of  the  leaders  of  the  Churches,  because 
they  are  to  go  a  stage  further  than  the  Macken¬ 
zie  Commission  which  reported  at  Detroit.  They 
are  to  do  nothing  less  than  to  take  up  with  one 
denomination  after  another,  through  its  properly 
constituted  authorities  and  officials,  any  malad¬ 
justments,  any  friction  points,  any  unsatisfactory 
working  that  they  may  have  been  observed  or  ex¬ 
perienced  by  that  particular  denomination  in  its 
contact  with  our  work  and  to  point  the  way  con¬ 
structively  to  improvements.  This  is  an  ideal 
commission  and  ought  to  have  the  backing  of 
every  man  in  the  Brotherhood. 

I  will  omit  reading  the  summary  of  achieve¬ 
ments  and  unsolved  problems  of  the  eighteen  de¬ 
partments,  counselling  groups  and  bureaus  of  the 
Home  Work  of  the  International  Committee;  suf- 


2 


fice  it  to  say  that  in  almost  every  case  they  have 
registered  one  of  their  best  years  of  service  and 
solid  achievement. 

The  Annual  Dinner  of  the  International  Com¬ 
mittee  has  been  resumed,  having  been  discon¬ 
tinued  a  year  or  two  before  America  entered  the 
war.  This  year’s  dinner  is  better  known  as  the 
Pershing  Dinner.  I  do  not  know  of  any  event  in 
our  Brotherhood  in  many  a  long  day  that  enabled 
one  so  to  feel  the  pulse  beat  of  the  Movement  as 
did  that  occasion  where  a  thousand  men — chiefly 
laymen  but  also  including  leading  secretaries, 
local,  state  and  international — came  together;  nor 
do  I  recall  any  occasion  where  more  reassuring 
notes  were  struck,  notably  by  our  great  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  who  has  put  us  right  in  the  eyes 
of  our  generation  and  across  the  breadth  of  the 
world. 

I  come  now  to  facts  of  encouragement  in  the 
American  Associations,  and  I  trust  that  what  I 
shall  emphasize  applies  in  large  measure  to  the 
Canadian  Associations. 

First,  there  has  been  a  healthy  reaction  and  re¬ 
covery  from  the  war  criticism.  While  the  fires 
still  bum  intensely  in  some  places,  especially  in 
rural  communities,  generally  speaking,  the  victory 
has  been  won.  I  say  the  victory  advisedly,  be¬ 
cause  we  had  arrayed  against  us  something  more 
than  our  own  weaknesses  which  we  were  frank  to 
confess  and  deal  with.  Insofar  as  the  criticisms 
were  justified,  they  have  been  taken  to  heart  in 
an  honest,  Christian  way  and  the  Associations 
have  profited  thereby,  as  do  all  who  are  purified 
by  fire.  Insofar  as  they  were  unfounded,  they 
have  been  exposed.  Men’s  sins  find  them  out. 
The  Association  has  been  more  than  vindicated. 
The  Association,  as  a  result  of  its  dignified  atti¬ 
tude  under  fire — and  that  is  the  time  you  test  a 
man  or  an  organization — and  the  cumulative  evi¬ 
dence,  has  more  friends  today  than  ever  before 
in  its  history.  That  I  have  no  doubt  about,  and 
I  am  in  a  position,  possibly,  to  know.  This  is 
true  all  over  North  America.  And  what  shall  I 
not  say  about  foreign  lands  ?  Is  it  not  highly  sig¬ 
nificant  that  the  American  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Association  is  the  only  organization  to  which  the 
allied  nations  and  most  of  the  enemy  countries 
have  applied  and  appealed,  in  the  light  of  what 
they  saw  in  the  war,  to  extend  to  them  its  helpful 
ministry  ? 

A  second  encouragement  is  the  marked  growth 
in  the  membership.  Before  the  war  the  member¬ 
ship  of  the  North  American  Associations  number¬ 
ed  approximately  six  hundred  thousand;  now  is 
probably  not  far  short  of  a  million.  I  tried  to  get 
George  Hodge  to  become  a  prophet  but  he  refuses 
to  prophesy.  The  Association  has  mastered  the 
problem  of  making  contacts  with  young  men.  You 
notice  in  the  Physical  Department  there  has  been 
within  five  or  six  years  an  increase  of  over  fifty 
per  cent,  in  the  number  of  men  served.  There 
has  been  an  even  more  wonderful  expansion  in 


the  educational  work  especially  in  the  last  two 
years.  I  wish  you  could  have  heard  the  findings 
as  I  did  last  night  at  the  meeting  of  the  Educa¬ 
tional  Council  at  Chicago  College.  I  said  then  that 
whether  we  have  in  mind  the  democratic  control 
of  the  Council,  or  the  number  of  Associations 
touched  and  guided  by  the  Council,  or  the  number 
of  young  men  as  students  lastingly  benefited  by 
its  activities,  or  the  great  increase  in  the  volume 
of  instruction,  or  the  improvement  in  the  quality 
of  that  instruction  and  guidance,  or  the  number 
and  character  of  men  related  to  this  task  as  edu¬ 
cators  and  educational  directors,  or  the  original 
contributions  made  by  authors  and  by  the  Com¬ 
mittees  on  text  books  and  brochures,  or  the  words 
of  approval  that  have  been  spoken  by  discerning 
people  throughout  the  country,  the  work  of  this 
Council  and  of  the  United  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Schools 
marks  one  of  the  really  great  recent  steps  of  pro¬ 
gress. 

Our  Association  membership  is,  as  a  rule,  as 
large  as  the  present  buildings  can  accommodate 
and  greater  than  our  present  program  and  staff 
can  properly  assimilate.  It  was  not  so  thirty 
years  ago.  This  is  the  more  remarkable  because 
it  has  been  achieved  in  the  face  of  the  reaction 
and  the  opposition  of  the  recent  years,  and  it  has 
been  accomplished  without  compromising  our  prin¬ 
ciples. 

A  third  reassuring  fact  is  the  really  encourag¬ 
ing  financial  position  of  the  Movement.  While  the 
past  year  has  not  registered  as  marked  an  in¬ 
crease  in  our  material  resources  as  have  some 
preceding  years,  and  this  owing  to  prevailing  un¬ 
precedented  difficult  economic  conditions  at  home 
and  throughout  the  world,  nevertheless  it  has 
been  a  good  year  financially.  I  say  this  having 
borne  the  burden  with  a  good  many  of  you.  A 
few  new  buildings  have  been  secured.  I  do  not 
know  of  any  organization  that  has  had  a  better 
building  record.  Of  forty-seven  buildings  design¬ 
ed  by  the  Building  Bureau,  twenty-two  are  held 
up  pending  the  clearing  of  the  financial  atmos¬ 
phere.  A  large  amount  of  Association  indebted¬ 
ness  has  been  raised.  w, 

Current  expense  canvasses  have  been  better 
than  in  the  preceding  year.  The  Brotherhood  is 
to  be  congratulated  on  the  good  showing  their  co¬ 
operation  achieved  for  the  Home  and  Foreign 
Work  of  the  International  Committee  and  of  most 
of  the  State  Committees.  The  time  of  the  staff 
of  the  Financial  Service  Bureau  has  been  claimed 
to  the  limit.  No  railroad  corporation  to  my 
knowledge  has  during  the  year  reduced  by  one 
dollar  its  appropriations  to  the  Railroad  Associa¬ 
tion  work.  '  The  same  could  be  said  of  many  of 
our  leading  industrial  corporations.  While  many 
large  givers  to  our  Associations  and  to  our  general 
agencies  have,  owing  to  high  taxes  and  other 
causes,  been  obliged  to  reduce  their  customary 
contributions,  this  has  been  more  than  offset  by 
the  vast  increase  in  the  number  of  new  donors. 


3 


Contrast  our  record — I  say  this  not  boastfully — 
with  that  of  other  welfare  and  altruistic  organi¬ 
zations.  Contrast  our  record  with  that  of  the  As¬ 
sociation  Brotherhood  of  other  nations  and  we 
have  reason  humbly  and  sincerely  to  thank  God 
and  to  nerve  ourselves  for  what  may  prove  to  be 
an  even  more  difficult  year  financially. 

We  cannot  report  a  great  increase  in  endow¬ 
ment  funds  but  some  of  the  best  thinking  has 
been  done  on  this  subject  and  also  some  of  the 
best  writing,  for  instance,  the  splendid  article  by 
John  W.  Cook  in  the  Association  Forum. 

The  fourth  encouragement  is  the  enormous 
widening  of  opportunity.  I  sum  this  up  by  say¬ 
ing  with  care  that  at  home  ten  doors  are  open  to 
the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  where 
there  was  one  before  the  war.  If  any  man  is  dis¬ 
posed  to  question  that,  I  hope  he  will  cross-ques¬ 
tion  me. 

A  fifth  encouragement  is  the  growing  commun¬ 
ity-wide  emphasis.  The  Association  is  coming  to 
see  that  it  has  a  responsibility  to  every  group  of 
men  and  boys  within  the  range  of  its  influence, 
quite  apart  from  membership  and  building  con¬ 
siderations.  It  wishes  to  make  sure  that  every 
man  and  boy  has  a  fair  chance  for  all-round  de¬ 
velopment.  Minneapolis,  with  its  service  at  over 
three  hundred  points  outside  of  its  central  build¬ 
ing  and  branches,  is  one  of  the  best  classic  ex¬ 
amples.  Associations  are  manifesting  increasing 
ability  to  serve  without  equipment.  This  does  not 
mean  the  abandoning  of  equipment  but  a  better 
understanding  of  its  use.  Moreover,  the  wider  or 
more  extensive  the  community  outreach  of  the 
Association,  the  more  important  it  is  that  the  cen¬ 
tral  propagating  base  and  dynamo  be  maintained 
in  highest  efficiency. 

A  sixth  encouragement  is  that  the  Association 
is  more  and  more  recognizing  Christ  as  Lord,  and, 
therefore,  claiming  for  Him  all  the  life  and  rela¬ 
tionships  of  young  men  and  boys.  Our  leaders 
are  facing  up  as  never  before — and  I  cannot  tell 
you  how  much  this  has  refreshed  my  spirit — to 
the  implications  of  our  wondrous  Gospel.  This  is 
—  _at^>'nce  the  significance  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
triangle  idea.  Some  of  us  have  been  defending  it 
in  Europe  in  the  last  few  weeks.  It  is  based  on 
the  idea  of  the  Incarnation.  What  is  the  triangle 
idea  ? — It  means  Christ  taking  possession  of  a  man 
as  a  unit.  To  Christ  man  cannot  be  broken  into 
compartments.  Christ  is  Lord  of  all  or  not  Lord 
at  all.  And  there  is  something  specious  and  su¬ 
perficial  in  the  attempt  to  speak  of  any  part  of 
our  work,  properly  conducted,  as  more  religious 
than  another  part. 

This  explains  why  the  organization  holds  the 
most  unique  place  of  any  Christion  organization  in 
the  world  in  its  relation  to  all  social,  national  and 
racial  groups.  Take  the  social  groups,  in  the  in¬ 
dustrial  area  especially.  Name  the  organization 
that  commands  so  fully  the  confidence  of  employ¬ 
ers  and  employees  and  that,  therefore,  holds  such 


a  key  position  with  reference  to  bringing  about 
common  understanding  and  action.  Or  apply  this 
principle  to  international  relations  and  likewise  to 
the  more  baffling  inter-racial  relations.  What  a 
colossal  responsibility  to  be  the  medium  in  His 
hand  to  mold,  to  guide,  to  unify  such  varied,  di¬ 
vergent  and  at  times — especially  in  these  times — 
conflicting  forces ;  may  we  walk  humbly  before  our 
God. 

A  seventh  encouragement  is  the  deepened  and 
unshakable  conviction,  yours  and  mine,  as  to  the 
fundamental  or  central  place  of  the  so-called  reli¬ 
gious  work  of  the  Associations.  This  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  in  many  parts  of  the  Movement  this 
most  vital  phase  of  the  work  is  in  such  an  unsat¬ 
isfactory  condition  and  in  some  Associations  is 
neglected  and  almost  eliminated. 

I  have  held  conferences  recently,  with  the  lead¬ 
ers  of  our  Brotherhood  from  thirty-six  states.  I 
have  visited  in  the  last  eight  months  twenty-six 
states.  It  has  given  me  quite  a  wide  contact  with 
the  Brotherhood  in  its  present  state.  With  your 
help  and  that  of  other  leading  secretaries  and  lay¬ 
men,  I  have  recently  had  an  enormous  correspon¬ 
dence,  my  correspondents  giving  me  the  benefit  of 
their  frank  and  honest  impressions  of  our  present 
state  and  tendencies.  With  all  of  this  in  mind 
and,  also  having  had  the  benefit  of  those  search¬ 
ing  processes,  furthered  by  the  Religious  Work 
Department  of  the  International  Committee,  I 
wish  to  go  on  record  as  saying  that  the  spiritual 
heart  of  the  Brotherhood  was  never  more  sound 
than  it  is  at  present.  I  noticed  in  these  visits 
and  in  what  was  said  in  my  hearing  in  these  many 
conferences,  and  in  what  has  been  laid  before 
me  by  you  and  others  in  correspondence  such  re¬ 
assuring  facts,  tendencies  and  attitudes  as  the  fol¬ 
lowing:  Our  leaders  are  burdened  about  our  re¬ 
ligious  state.  They  are  dissatisfied  to  the  degree 
of  pain  with  spiritual  conditions.  There  are  mul¬ 
tiplied  evidences  of  conviction  of  sin  among  us. 
There  is  recognition  of  the  personal  spiritual 
poverty  and  lack  of  fruitfulness  of  our  Associa¬ 
tions.  The  messengers  to  whom  our  members  re¬ 
spond  most  deeply  are  the  spiritual  messengers. 
The  books  of  the  Association  Press  and  other 
presses  with  the  largest  circulation  are  the  most 
spiritual  books  and  books  which  are  most  exacting 
in  the  application  of  the  principles  of  Christ.  In 
other  words,  men  are  turning  to  Christ  and  to 
none  other.  All  this  is  a  precursor  of  something 
infinitely  better  than  we  have  ever  known.  Thank 
God  for  the  humbling  path. 

An  eighth  encouragement :  Real  progress  is  be¬ 
ing  made  toward  arriving  at  a  better  understand¬ 
ing  with  the  Churches.  It  was  startling  to  dis¬ 
cover  that  we  had,  both  locally  and  nationally, 
drifted  apart  or  fallen  out  of  gear.  This  was  due 
to  negative  and  positive  causes  which  we  need  not 
take  time  to  outline.  The  situation  as  we  now  see 
it  had  become  very  serious.  The  work  of  the 
Mackenzie  Commission  and  its  report  at  Detroit 


4 


was  taken  seriously  by  the  Brotherhood.  The  best 
thing  done  in  connection  with  the  report  was  the 
adoption  of  its  recommendation  for  a  continuing 
Commission  on  Approach  to  the  Churches.  This 
will  help  greatly  to  re-define  and  effect  right  rela¬ 
tionships.  On  every  hand  there  are  multiplied, 
fresh  contacts  and  a  larger  understanding,  sym¬ 
pathy  and  co-operation  with  the  Churches. 

A  ninth  encouragement  is  the  evident,  sincere 
desire  to  improve  the  organization,  the  working 
efficiency  and  the  service  of  our  general  agencies, 
both  on  the  part  of  the  Associations  whose  crea¬ 
tures  and  servants  these  agencies  are  and  on  the 
part  of  the  agencies  themselves.  The  frank  criti¬ 
cism,  especially  when  it  has  been  constructive  and 
brotherly  or  Christlike,  in  the  sense  that  it  has 
been  made  direct  to  the  person  or  agency  concern¬ 
ed  and  in  the  sense  that  it  has  been  made  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  principle  of  the  Golden  Rule,  has, 
een  most  profitable.  The  growth  in  humility  and 
eachableness  on  the  part  of  those  who  were  the 
objects  of  criticism  and  of  those  who  honestly 
sought  to  improve  conditions  or  practice  has  been 
simply  splendid.  These  and  other  signs  of  un¬ 
selfish  discontent — notice  I  use  the  word  “unsel¬ 
fish”  there  is  another  kind  that  is  selfish  and 
devilish, — and  of  like  unselfish  desire  to  help  one 
another  in  the  interest  of  the  Brotherhood  and 
of  the  Kingdom,  I  most  emphatically  place  among 
the  sources  of  encouragement. 

Let  me  turn  now  to  conditions  and  tendencies 
in  the  American  Associations  which  should  cause 
us  real  concern  and  which  should  call  forth  our 
best  united,  constructive  endeavor.  And  first  of 
all,  let  it  be  frankly  admitted  that  the  Associa¬ 
tion  is  failing  to  impress  the  character  and  in¬ 
fluence  the  action  of  our  members  to  any  such 
extent  as  is  desirable  and  as  might  reasonably  be 
expected.  Our  buildings,  as  has  been  already 
stated,  are  thronged  with  young  men  as  never  be¬ 
fore.  For  what  are  they  there?  We  are  not  as¬ 
similating  this  greatly  increased  membership.  We 
admit  it.  Let  us  ask  ourselves  searching  ques¬ 
tions  : 

Are  we  firing  these  members  with  common 
ideals  and  passion  ?  I  mean  the  passion  that  burns 
within  our  own  breasts. 

Are  we  developing  in  them  a  sense  of  brother¬ 
hood? 

To  what  extent  are  we  begetting  in  them  the 
spirit  of  giving  rather  than  that  of  getting? 

To  what  extent  are  we  making  them  a  united, 
aggressive  force  in  our  communities  and  in  the 
world  ? 

What  contribution  are  we  making  through 
them  toward  the  solution  of  the  grave  post-war 
problems  ? 

Are  we  generating  the  spirit  of  the  Crusaders  ? 

I  have  spent  a  good  many  hours  on  those  ques¬ 
tions  and  I  mean  to  spend  many  more. 


If  we  aspire  to  have  such  results — and  this  was 
the  mainspring  of  our  call  to  the  Association  serv¬ 
ice,  and  with  you  I  want  to  leave  the  service  if 
such  ceases  to  be  true — we  must  concern  our¬ 
selves  much  more  with  how  it  is  to  be  done.  We 
must  give  more  attention  to  improving  our  work¬ 
manship. 

I  come  to  the  second  ground  of  concern.  The 
Association  leaders  and  workers  are  dominated 
too  much  by  the  material,  financial  and  institu¬ 
tional  aspects  of  our  work.  The  care  of  the  build¬ 
ing  and  equipment  interests  and  the  claims  of  the 
business  administration  make  a  disproportionate 
claim  on  our  attention  and  time.  Some  men  tell 
me  that  from  sixty  to  eighty  per  cent,  of  their 
time  is  devoted  to  this  material  side,  leaving  only 
a  small  fraction  to  be  given  to  the  real  objective — 
character  building.  Thus  the  second  generation 
of  secretaries  are  largely  absorbed  with  adminis¬ 
trative  responsibilities  in  contrast  with  the  first 
generation  who  concerned  themselves  primarily 
with  being  personal  religious  leaders  of  men.  To¬ 
day  the  talent,  the  energy,  the  strategy,  the  very 
genius  of  too  many  men  have  been  bent  on  ac¬ 
quiring  property  and  perfecting  the  organization 
to  maintain  it.  I  am  speaking  not  only  of  local 
leaders  but  also  of  those  related  to  the  general 
agencies.  It  has  been  a  period  noted  for  material 
efficiency  rather  than  for  spiritual  conquest.  We 
should  not  shrink  from  the  large  plants,  from  the 
handling  of  vast  sums  of  money  or  from  develop¬ 
ing  a  great  institution,  provided  this  represents 
actual  increase  in  vital  contacts  and  in  spiritual 
processes  within  ourselves  and  within  the  organi¬ 
zation. 

The  third  ground  of  solicitude  is  the  great  need 
of  scaling  up  the  business  efficiency  of  our  organi¬ 
zation.  Notwithstanding  all  that  I  have  just  said 
about  our  being  dominated  unduly  by  material 
claims  and  by  the  requirements  of  running  big  in¬ 
stitutions,  yet  because  of  this  very  danger,  we 
need  so  to  perfect  our  business  administration 
that  we  as  leaders  may  be  liberated  increasingly 
for  the  more  vital  tasks.  It  is  an  idle  dream  to 
assume  that  any  man  among  us  can  get  alo^g 
without  bearing  financial  and  administrative  re¬ 
sponsibility.  Robert  McBurney  could  not  do  so; 
David  Sinclair  could  not  escape;  nor  could  Edwin 
See.  Dwight  L.  Moody,  the  greatest  evangelist  of 
our  country,  never  escaped  financial  responsibility. 
I  have  seen  him  sign  his  name  to  financial  letters 
for  three  or  four  hours  at  a  stretch;  he  had  to 
give  weeks  each  year  to  lifting  difficult  financial 
loads.  The  most  spiritual  bishops  and  other 
church  leaders  cannot  escape  this  kind  of  respon¬ 
sibility.  But  we  can  so  master  our  conditions  that 
means  shall  not  take  the  place  of  ends,  or  become 
ends  in  themselves;  and  one  of  the  main  secrets 
of  this  is  not  giving  more  but  better  attention 
to  this  indispensable  part  of  our  trust. 

Few  Associations  have  men  competent  to  handle 
their  business  problems.  We  offer  too  small 


5 


salaries  and  inadequate  opportunity  for  promotion 
to  get  the  kind  of  men  we  need.  The  Associations 
seldom  employ  experts  in  the  sense  that  big  busi¬ 
ness  concerns  do.  We  are  not  as  scientific,  particu¬ 
lar  and  exacting  as  are  men  of  successful  business 
affairs.  I  am  not  without  encouragement  as  I 
think  of  the  modest  and  thorough-going  work  that 
Mr.  Johnston  has  been  doing  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  of  the  Manual  of  Business  Practice 
of  the  Chicago  Association  brought  out  by  Mr. 
Parker,  and  of  the  provision  made  at  the  present 
conference  for  the  creation  of  a  Business  Secre¬ 
taries’  Association  to  help  standardize  and  to  lift 
standards  and  to  establish  a  clearing  house  on 
these  lines.  The  root  of  our  trouble  is  the  pre¬ 
valent  superficial  view  of  the  business  part  of  our 
work  as  a  necessary  evil.  Rather,  it  should  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  boundless  opportunities  for 
pure  religion.  There  is  a  lot  of  hypocrisy  in  this 
realm.  Let  it  be  reiterated  that  to  Christ  nothing 
is  common  or  unclean.  And  to  Him  nothing  is 
too  hard.  It  is  easily  possible  for  Him  to  domin¬ 
ate  any  building,  to  raise  any  proper  budget  and 
to  administer  any  supervisory  committee,  and  if 
we  are  in  intimate  touch  with  Christ  this  is  going 
to  be  one  of  the  most  spiritual  parts  of  our  work. 

A  fourth  ground  of  concern:  The  lack  of  de¬ 
mocracy  in  the  Association  Movement  is  one  of 
the  most  disappointing  aspects  of  its  present  day 
life.  There  are  not  many  signs  of  improvement 
but  there  are  some.  For  example,  the  Student  De¬ 
partment,  (I  commend  the  study  of  what  they 
have  done  since  the  Detroit  Convention,  or  go 
back  to  the  Cleveland  Convention) ;  certain  phases 
of  the  boys’  .work ;  and  likewise  the  educational 
work.  As  a  rule  no  considerable  body  of  the  mem¬ 
bers  control  or  interest  themselves  in  the  control 
of  the  Association  or  in  the  determination  of  its 
policies.  Therefore,  they  do  not  regard  it  and 
claim  it  as  their  own.  If  Mr.  McBurney  sounded 
the  warning  in  his  day,  imagine  his  voice  were  he 
speaking  today.  The  Association  is  becoming  less 
and  less  an  organization  of  its  members  and  more 
and  more  one  of  its  officers.  This  lack  of  demo¬ 
cracy  is  apparent  when  we  turn  to  the  general 
agencies. 

This  leads  me  a  little  deeper  into  another  weak¬ 
ness — the  fifth  ground  of  concern:  The  Associa¬ 
tion  is  weak  in  corporate  action  on  a  national  scale. 
It  is  most  difficult  to  secure  concerted  nation-wide 
action  on  any  subject.  Therefore,  we  have  not 
gone  forward  as  might  reasonably  have  been  ex¬ 
pected  even  in  the  face  of  war  criticism,  organ¬ 
ized  opposition  and  post-war  reaction.  I  am  per¬ 
suaded  that  the  Brotherhood  desire  to  act  as  a 
unit.  I  refuse  to  believe  anything  else.  We  desire 
to  act  as  a  unit  without  sacrificing  anything  of 
local  autonomy  or  without  placing  undue  author¬ 
ity  in  the  hands  of  any  general  agency. 

The  cause  of  this  weakness  in  national  corpor¬ 
ate  action  is  found  in  the  fact  that  we  are  too 
divided  among  ourselves.  The  division  is  based 


partly  on  different  conceptions  of  Association 
policy,  one  group  emphasizing,  possibly  unduly, 
local  antonomy,  another  the  need  for  increased 
efficiency  in  corporate  action.  This  lack  of  united 
action  is  due  at  times,  it  would  seem,  to  an  ele¬ 
ment  of  mistrust  and  a  misinterpretation  of  mo¬ 
tives  among  the  leaders  themselves.  In  conse¬ 
quence  the  highest  and  noblest  plans  may  be  pre¬ 
judiced  or  distrusted.  When  loyalty  gives  way  to 
suspicion  or  antagonism,  it  is  indeed  serious.  It 
is  possible,  of  course,  to  over-estimate  the 
seriousness  of  this  division,  but  it  should  not  be 
ignored.  Insofar  as  the  want  of  unity  may  be  due 
to  suspicion,  mistrust  or  jealousy,  it  calls  for 
heart-searching,  repentance  and  prostration  be¬ 
fore  God. 

The  representatives  of  the  International  and 
State  Committees  must,  as  servants  of  the  local 
Associations,  commend  themselves  to  the  leaders 
of  the  local  Associations,  both  secretarial  and  lay, 
by  absolute  frankness  and  by  baring  to  these  local 
leaders  all  the  plans,  policies  and  processes  of 
these  agencies  of  service.  They  must  ever  seek 
to  give  the  impression  (and  this  because  based  on 
reality,  for  what  you  are  speaks  so  loud  that  I 
cannot  hear  what  you  say)  that  they  are  striving 
to  represent  and  serve  the  Associations  and  not 
in  any  sense  to  dominate  them  or  work  apart 
from  their  wishes.  They  must  by  continued  self- 
sacrificing  service  gain  and  hold  the  confidence  of 
the  local  leaders. 

The  local  leaders  in  turn  must,  in  all  their  rela¬ 
tions  with  the  representatives  of  the  general 
agencies,  manifest  whole-hearted  loyalty  and  take 
the  initiative  in  bringing  directly  (not  indirectly), 
promptly,  and  constructively  to  the  attention  of 
these  representatives,  any  criticisms  and  sugges¬ 
tions  in  their  judgment  calculated  to  promote  the 
most  helpful  service  and  to  preserve  the  most  bro¬ 
therly  and  Christlike  fellowship. 

I  want  here  and  now  to  do  what  I  reached  the 
State  Secretaries  Conference  too  late  to  do,  to  say 
that  the  International  Committee  wishes  to  have 
join  them  throughout  their  annual  policy  shaping 
meeting  to  be  held  next  September,  a  group  of 
five  State  Secretaries  to  be  chosen  from  the  five 
regions  by  the  State  Secretaries’  Association.  We 
also  want  there  a  group  of  five  General  Secretaries 
representing  the  work  in  large  cities,  in  small 
cities,  in  Railroad  Associations,  in  Student  Asso¬ 
ciations  and  in  other  groups.  The  presence  and 
collaboration  of  these  two  groups  will  be  of  the 
greatest  possible  value  in  helping  us  to  see  how  we 
can  best  serve  the  Associations. 

Insofar  as  the  lack  of  close  and  triumphant 
unity  is  due  to  faulty  organization  or  procedure, 
it  calls  for  courageous,  wise  overhauling  of  ma¬ 
chinery  and  revision  of  our  practice.  It  must  be 
admitted  that  we  are  not  organized  for  the  most 
helpful  expression  of  opposition,  and,  therefore, 
are  weak  in  authoritative  corporate  action  with 
reference  to  any  policy  of  a  general  agency.  There 


6 


is  no  adequate  provision  for  bringing  quickly  and 
effectively  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the  local  As¬ 
sociations,  large  and  small  Associations,  different 
classes  of  Associations,  different  kinds  of  mem¬ 
bers,  lay  and  secretarial,  to  bear  on  the  State  and 
the  International  Committees.  Therefore,  dissat¬ 
isfaction  of  local  Associations  may  take  the  form 
of  non-cooperation  or  of  an  attempt  to  express 
itself  in  some  other  way  for  which  no  channel  is 
provided. 

This  is  not  simply  a  negative  matter.  Nobody 
is  interested  in  negatives  as  much  as  in  the  posi¬ 
tive.  It  is  entirely  laudable  that  the  local  forces 
have  a  formative  influence  in  shaping  policies  in 
every  state  and  in  the  national  and  international 
affairs.  I  do  not  care  what  changes  are  made,  I 
want  to  see  the  New  York  Headquarters — and  I 
know  I  speak  for  every  State  Secretary  with  re¬ 
ference  to  his  headquarters — fully  and  promptly 
responsive  to  the  best  sentiment  of  the  Brother¬ 
hood.  Nothing  could  be  more  intolerable  than  not 
to  know  whether  we  are  doing  what  the  Associa¬ 
tions  desire,  and  not  to  have  the  Associations  feel 
with  proper  pride  that  these  agencies  are  their 
own. 

The  sixth  ground  of  concern  is  the  clamant  need 
of  more  first-rate  men  in  the  secretaryship.  We 
must  admit  that  the  average  standard  is  much  too 
low.  The  growing  magnitude  and  complexity  of 
the  Association,  and  the  multiplied  grave  problems 
which  press  upon  the  leadership  of  the  Associa¬ 
tion,  demand  stronger  personalities,  men  better 
furnished  and  better  trained,  men  with  a  fixed  pur¬ 
pose  to  devote  their  lives  to  the  work.  We  must 
lay  stronger  hold  on  the  ablest,  all-round  college 
men  and  we  must  be  more  thorough-going  in  try¬ 
ing  them  out.  The  recruiting  must  be  more  on  a 
selective  basis.  The  call  of  Almighty  God  to  enter 
the  work  should  become  the  great  factor  and  with¬ 
out  it  men  should  hold  back  from  entering  this 
work. 

More  of  the  leading  Associations  should  have  an 
efficient  personnel  policy  like  that  of  the  New 
York  City  Association.  The  Retirement  Fund 
must  be  gotten  into  operation  at  the  earliest  prac¬ 
ticable  date.  The  failure  of  leaders  to  invest  their 
own  time,  thought  and  intercession  in  finding  and 
coaching  candidates  and  in  making  personal 
friendships  with  promising  young  men  is  one  of 
our  gravest  failures.  The  General  Secretary  and 
senior  members  of  his  staff  must  find  their  chief 
glory  in  working  and  living  through  their  younger 
men.  The  mistaken  economy  of  Boards  of  Direc¬ 
tors  in  paying  inadequate  salaries  to  the  younger 
men  and  to  men  who  do  not  bring  monetary  value 
to  the  Association  must  be  corrected. 

We  must  back  to  the  limit  our  training  agencies. 
The  three  Association  Colleges  were  never  more 
worthy  of  our  generous  support.  Our  Continua¬ 
tion  or  Summer  Schools  were  never  so  well  admin¬ 
istered,  never  so  fruitful.  The  Training  Center 
idea  never  meant  so  much  to  the  people  who  really 


discern.  The  Personnel  Bureau  of  the  Internation¬ 
al  Committee  continues  its  most  effective  and  con¬ 
structive  work.  The  Conference  on  the  Associa¬ 
tion  Profession  is  a  great  factor  not  only  in  uni¬ 
fying  and  intensifying  all  this  work  but  also  in 
raising  standards. 

The  seventh  cause  of  concern  is  that  the  pro¬ 
phetic  and  heroic  notes  are  too  largely  missing 
among  our  Association  leaders.  If  we  are  to 
arrest  the  attention,  command  the  confidence  and 
call  out  the  devotion  of  the  most  inquiring  gen¬ 
eration  of  young  men  and  boys  that  the  world 
has  ever  known,  likewise  the  most  forward-look¬ 
ing  generation,  the  generation  most  dissatisfied 
with  the  past  and  most  prepared  to  endure  hard¬ 
ness  to  bring  in  a  new  era,  we  ourselves  must  be 
men  of  vision,  of  courage  and  of  reality,  and,  I 
might  add,  of  sympathy.  While  we  want  to  con¬ 
serve  at  all  costs  that  which  is  good  and  true  in 
our  past,  we  likewise  want  to  usher  in  a  better 
day. 

While  seeking  to  safeguard  valued  tradition — 
and  nobody  values  it  more  highly  than  I  do;  I 
spent  nine  hours  a  week  for  four  years  studying 
history,  not  in  vain  but  to  come  to  appreciate  the 
value  of  tradition — we  need  to  be  doubly  on  our 
guard  lest  we  imperil  an  even  greater  possible 
future.  In  our  convention  deliverances,  confer¬ 
ence  findings,  summer  school  institutes,  platform 
speeches  and  printed  statements,  we  need  to  be 
concerned  with  vastly  more  than  preserving  the 
status  quo;  for,  as  the  Pilgrim  Father  said,  “If 
you  stop  becoming  better  you  will  cease  to  be 
good.”  There  was  a  time  when  some  feared  that 
in  the  realm  of  applied  Christianity,  we  would  go 
ahead  of  the  Churches.  Today  there  is  danger 
lest  we  part  company  with  the  Churches  to  which 
we  have  sworn  allegiance. 

It  is  possible  for  men  to  become  so  conservative 
that  they  are  in  danger  of  stimulating  radicalism. 
In  an  age  of  conflict  between  social  groups,  be¬ 
tween  races  and  between  ideas,  we  need  to  do 
more  than  to  work  in  the  zone  of  agreement.  We 
need  by  Christ’s  principles  and  by  His  power  to 
widen  the  zone  of  agreement.  Otherwise,  ^hy  did 
Jesus  Christ  come  among  men?  No  zone  of  agree¬ 
ment  is  widened  by  drift,  by  chance  or  by  evasion. 
On  this  vital  point  I  am  confident  we  are  in  accord. 

The  young  men  of  the  present  generation  are 
seeking  light  as  to  whether  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
is  applicable  to  all  life  and  to  all  relationships.  We 
need  to  hold  their  confidence  in  order  to  help  them 
through  all  of  the  coming  days.  Nothing  is  more 
encouraging,  therefore,  than  the  vital  and  grow¬ 
ing  interest  of  our  leaders  and  members  in  the 
social,  industrial,  racial,  international  and  apolo¬ 
getic  questions.  Why?  In  the  first  place,  be¬ 
cause  Jesus  Christ  was  and  is  interested  in  them. 
In  the  second  place,  because  the  Churches  to 
which  we  belong  are  profoundly  interested  in 
them.  In  the  third  place,  because,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  most  wide-awake  and  forward-looking 


7 


young  men  and  boys  are  keenly  interested  in  them. 
In  the  fourth  place,  because  it  opens  the  path  of 
difficulty  and  heroism  and  this  in  turn  means  life 
from  the  dead.  Finally,  because  the  future  is 
with  those  who  are  thus  increasingly  interested. 

A  last  ground  of  concern  and  even  alarm  is  that 
of  the  mental  stagnation  and  spiritual  starvation 
of  so  many  of  the  leaders  and  workers.  Absorp¬ 
tion  in  administrative  details  crowds  out  serious 
reading,  original  investigation  and  deep  thinking. 
This  is  most  serious  because  lack  of  thinking 
means  lack  of  clear  conviction,  lack  of  courage  and 
lack  of  leadership.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  many 
of  us  are  becoming  promoters  rather  than  crea¬ 
tors.  One  man  startled  me  within  two  days  by 
venturing  the  statement  that  he  could  check  off 
the  names  of  a  thousand  men  in  the  secretaryship 
who  had  not  brought  forth  an  original  treatise, 
large  or  small*  on  some  vital  aspect  of  our  char¬ 
acter-building  work  for  men  and  boys. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  there  has  been  a  break¬ 
down  of  the  most  rewarding  habits  of  the  daily, 
generous  cultivation  of  the  spiritual  life.  Of  too 
many  of  us  in  our  respective  spheres,  might  it 
not  be  said  with  truth,  first  in  station,  last  in  soul. 
This  is  our  most  strategic  peril.  Conquer  this  day 
by  day  and  every  other  one  will  dissolve.  Be¬ 
cause  it  is  inconceivable  that  the  living  Christ  be 
formed  in  us,  be  given  right  of  way  within  us, 
that  is,  within  our  thought  processes,  within  our 
ambitions,  within  our  motive  life,  and  He  not 
break  out  within  us  individually,  and,  therefore, 
corporately  in  the  Movement  in  triumphant  power. 

I  call  attention  now  to  some  of  the  regions  be¬ 
yond,  right  in  front  of  our  doors  here  in  North 
America.  To  the  surprise  of  some  of  us  but  not 
of  discerning  men  who  have  mastered  the  facts, 
our  great  cities  ought  to  be  placed  first  in  the  list. 
As  Mr.  William  J.  Parker’s  able  paper  in  the  Asso¬ 
ciation  Forum — by  the  way,  among  the  encourag¬ 
ing  developments  of  the  year  should  have  been 
mentioned  the  Association  Forum — shows,  by  far 
our  most  neglected  field  from  the  point  of  view 
of  density  of  need  and  numbers  neglected  are  the 
very  city  centers  which  we  have  prided  ourselves 
too  much  were  already  occupied.  Let  this  area  of 
neglect,  therefore,  be  held  in  prominence.  Then 
hundreds  of  small  cities  and  literally  thousands 
of  towns,  you  might  say,  have  the  door  of  hope 
so  far  as  the  Association  opens  it,  closed  to  the 
young  manhood  and  boyhood  of  this  generation. 
And  what  shall  I  not  say  about  the  county  field 
as  a  whole?  It  seems  incredible  that  less  than 
three  hundred  of  three  thousand  counties  are  or¬ 
ganized.  I  might  be  discouraged  did  my  memory 
not  carry  me  back,  by  the  law  of  association,  to 
my  first  conference  of  the  Employed  Officers  in 
1889  at  Orange,  New  Jersey,  where  you,  Uncle 
Robert  (addressing  Robert  Weidensall)  read  your 
historic  paper,  and  where  men  were  more  dis¬ 
posed  to  ridicule  than  to  believe,  still  less 
follow,  and  to  remember  what  has  been  filled 
in  since  in  living  content.  Thank  God  you 


have  lived  to  see  it  as,  God  grant,  you  may  live 
to  see  many  another  almost  unbelievable  develop¬ 
ment.  As  I  recall  the  report  of  the  Commission 
on  the  Occupation  of  the  Field  as  presented  at 
Detroit,  I  am  persuaded  we  have  only  opened  the 
door  to  this  unending  vista  out  in  our  rural  com¬ 
munities.  We  have  not  entered  the  field,  still 
less  mastered  the  method  by  which  we  should  do 
it. 

Among  every  class  of  young  men  to  whom  we 
have  addressed  ourselves,  there  are  almost  limit¬ 
less  regions  beyond.  The  most  overwhelming  in 
magnitude,  in  urgency  and  in  danger  is  that  of  the 
industrial  field.  There  are  certain  special  classes 
which  should  make  a  powerful  appeal  to  us  that 
we  have  almost  lost  from  our  vision.  Think,  for 
example,  of  the  Mexican  young  men  and  boys. 
There  is  no  better  flank  attack  upon  the  needs 
and  perils  of  the  young  men  of  Mexico  than  by 
way  of  reaching  the  more  ambitious  and  enter¬ 
prising  Mexican  youth  on  this  side  of  the  line. 
Over  a  half  million  of  young  men  are  behind 
prison  bars — their  average  age  is  twenty-seven — 
and  another  half  million  are  convicted  each  year, 
about  a  half  million  being  released,  and  we  have 
practically  not  thought  of  that  as  a  field.  Yet, 
we  say  we  are  in  sympathy  with  Jesus  Christ  who 
came  to  seek  and  save  that  which  was  lost.  Po¬ 
tentially,  strategically  and  from  every  other  point 
of  view,  the  most  important  and  neglected  class 
still,  notwithstanding  all  of  the  powerful  emphasis 
and  all  of  the  fruitful  service  of  the  last  two  de¬ 
cades,  are  the  nearly  one  million  boys  of  the  high 
schools  and  the  more  than  four  millions  of  work¬ 
ing  boys  of  these  two  great  countries. 

I  come  now  to  the  Foreign  Work  of  the  North 
American  Associations.  That  has  become  a  won¬ 
derful  work.  The  last  conference,  save  one,  that 
I  attended,  was  in  the  Graduate  School  at  Prince¬ 
ton  where  we  had  present  last  week  130  represen¬ 
tatives  of  our  Foreign  Work,  including  men  home 
on  furlough  or  under  appointment  to  go  out  soon 
to  the  foreign  field,  also  their  wives.  My  memory 
leaped  back  to  the  Philadelphia  Convention  thirty- 
two  years  ago  when  we  saw  first  two  foreign  Sec¬ 
retaries  sent  out — McConaughy  to  India  and 
Swift  to  Japan.  I  said,  “This  epitomizes  the  won¬ 
derful  expansion  of  the  staff  of  trusted  leaders 
of  the  Brotherhood  out  into  the  great  regions  be¬ 
yond.”  The  work  has  grown  until  now  the  two 
hundred  foreign  secretaries  are  outnumbered  by 
between  three  and  four  times  as  many  indigenous 
secretaries.  We  might  fittingly  and  safely  place 
ourselves  behind  their  lead  in  nearly  every  land 
to  which  we  have  gone,  as  we  have  already  done 
in  the  principal  fields.  This  work  is  a  vital  work. 
You  are  reminded  of  this  by  its  youthfulness,  by 
its  indigenous  character,  by  its  bold  initiative,  by 
its  willingness  to  break  new  paths,  by  its  propa¬ 
gating  power  and  self-sacrificial  spirit.  The  Na¬ 
tional  Committees  have  become  real  leaders  in 
the  world-wide  alliance  of  Associations.  They  will 


8 


rank  with  the  best  general  agencies  we  have  on 
this  or  any  other  continent. 

The  Foreign  Work  Commission  to  report  at  this 
Conference,  has  never  done  better  work  than  in 
the  later  stages  of  its  constructive  service  of  giv¬ 
ing  counsel  on  every  aspect  of  the  enterprise. 

The  visits  during  the  year  to  the  great  battle 
fields  by  such  laymen  as  Mr.  William  A.  Rogers 
of  Buffalo,  and  Mr.  E.  J.  Couper  of  Minneapolis, 
and  of  Secretaries  Brockman  in  the  Far  East, 
Eddy  in  the  Near  East,  Hurrey  in  South  America, 
and  Clinton  and  Babcock  in  Mexico,  have  served 
to  promote  the  solidarity  and  mutual  helpfulness 
of  the  Foreign  Work. 

Then  I  think  of  those  notable  recent  gatherings, 
the  National  Convention  of  China  and  the  one  of 
India  that  would  class  with  any  conferences  held 
under  the  name  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  anywhere  at 
any  time.  The  Foreign  Work  has  indeed  become 
a  world  power.  Its  program  of  physical  education 
and  of  health  promotion  touches  all  continents. 
Already  it  has  the  ambitious  motto,  “play-for-all,” 
and  this  idea  is  being  carried  out  more  extensively 
in  some  of  the  difficult  non-Christian  fields  than 
in  the  Christian  nations  at  the  home  base.  A 
chain  of  Association  colleges  is  taking  shape 
across  the  breadth  of  non  Christian  continents. 
An  unwearying  campaign  of  presenting  the  living 
Christ  to  living  men  and  boys  is  being  waged  in 
all  these  fields  with  startlingly  encouraging  re¬ 
sults.  The  foreign  Associations  insist  that  Christ 
does  have  a  message  to  every  side  of  life  and  in 
every  relationship,  otherwise  they  might  well  be 
depressed  in  every  one  of  these  fields.  If  Christ 
does  not  speak  a  word  for  all  relationships  of  men, 
might  they  not  better  withdraw,  they  say  ?  They 
are  mobilizing  a  force  for  righteousness  and  un¬ 
selfishness  that  in  its  kindling  and  aggressive 
power  reminds  one  of  the  Crusaders.  They  are 
unifying  the  nations  and  the  races  in  a  way  that 
is  almost  unbelievable. 

A  new  day  has  come  to  the  Foreign  Work.  Let 
us  seek  to  characterize  it.  Nationally  there  has 
come  across  the  world  the  thrill  of  a  new  life. 
New  nations  are  being  born  and  old  nations  are 
being  re-born.  It  requires  the  John  the  Baptist 
spirit  among  our  leaders  to  deal  with  all  these 
nations  with  their  new  spirit  of  national  inde¬ 
pendence  and  racial  patriotism. 

Internationally  it  is  a  time  of  suspicion,  irrita¬ 
tion  and  lack  of  fundamental  unity.  Never  have 
we  so  much  needed  to  put  to  the  forefront  men  of 
international  mind,  of  common  mind. 

Economically  the  world  is  bent  low  with  impos¬ 
sible  loads,  and  the  men  who  go  to  the  foreign 
fields,  the  great  abodes  of  poverty  and  hardship, 
must  be  men  of  sympathetic  minds. 

Industrially  it  is  a  time  of  confusion,  chaos  and 
burning  strife  in  almost  every  field  to  which  we 
have  gone.  We  must  there,  as  here,  have  men 
of  meditating  mind. 


Ethically  it  is  a  time  of  relaxing  of  moral  stand¬ 
ards,  of  dulling  the  sharp  edge  of  vital  ethical 
distinctions,  and  of  weakening  of  traditions  which 
bound  preceding  generations.  At  such  a  time  we 
must  have  men  of  disciplined  minds  to  shape  poli¬ 
cies  and  to  lead  campaigns. 

Religiously,  how  many  men  have  missed  the 
way?  Blind  leaders  of  the  blind  on  every  hand. 
How  necessary  it  is  as  we  go  to  the  homes  of  the 
non-Christian  religions  to  have  men  with  the  mind 
of  Christ  who  came  not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill, 
to  fill  with  living  content  everything  that  is  true, 
and  to  burn  with  unquenchable  fire  that  which  is 
wrong. 

Among  the  Christian  forces  it  is  a  time  of  a 
recrudescence  of  denominationalism  on  the  one 
hand  and  of  a  growing  desire  for  inter-denomina¬ 
tional  cooperation  on  the  other  hand.  We  need 
men  of  the  ecumenical  mind  to  understand  and 
preserve  right  relationships.  This  point  assumes 
added  importance  when  we  recall  that  the  Asso¬ 
ciation  has  to  deal  more  with  Roman  Catholic  and 
Greek  Catholic  countries  than  does  any  other  or¬ 
ganization. 

In  a  word  our  Foreign  Work  is  summoned  to 
serve  a  new  world.  To  do  this  we  simply  must 
nave  men  with  growing  minds,  with  modern 
minds,  with  forward-looking  minds,  with  pene¬ 
trating  minds  and  with  courageous  minds.  Let 
us  pray  that  a  double  portion  of  God’s  Spirit, 
therefore,  may  rest  on  the  Foreign  Work,  the  for¬ 
eign  workers  and  the  native  workers. 

Turning  to  the  National  War  Work  Council,  I 
only  need  to  remind  you  that  the  Council  was  offi¬ 
cially  dissolved  on  March  8th  last.  I  had  sent  to 
every  Secretary  and  President  and  to  all  of  the 
general  agencies,  the  circular  announcing  the  dis¬ 
solution  and  also  the  plan  that  the  War  Work 
Council  set  up  before  they  dissolved.  They  creat¬ 
ed  the  Trustees  of  the  War  Fund  of  the  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Associations.  I  should  indicate 
that  a  vacancy  was  created  by  the  resignation  of 
Mr.  Rhoads,  but  it  has  been  filled  by  the  election 
of  Mr.  W.  H.  Crosby  of  Buffalo.  This  Board 
needs  our  full  support  and  our  prayers.  They  have 
a  larger  trust  to  administer  than  at  first  seemed 
probable.  It  was  announced  that  the  fund  com¬ 
mitted  to  their  custody  would  amount  to  $7,461,- 
009.  It  is  going  to  be  approximately  nine  million 
and  a  half.  A  Liquidation  Committee  was  also 
appointed  by  the  Council  to  supervise  the  expen¬ 
diture  of  appropriations  already  made  for  current 
work. 

Before  I  sailed  to  Europe  six  weeks  ago  I  ar¬ 
ranged  to  have  sent  out  to  the  Brotherhood  the 
final  financial  statement  of  the  War  Work  Coun¬ 
cil,  giving  the  official  audit  of  Price,  Waterhouse 
&  Co.  We  have  sent  out  over  ten  thousand  copies. 
If  it  has  not  reached  you,  let  us  know.  With  the 
prefatory  reports  and  detailed  statement,  you  will 
find  it  a  valuable  educational  document.  These 
funds  have  been  accomplishing  untold  good  dur- 


9 


ing  the  recent  past.  We  have  been  helping  educa¬ 
tionally  80,000  ex-service  men.  This  has  been 
done  in  such  a  markedly  helpful  way  that  doors  of 
friendship  and  favor  have  been  opened  in  all  com¬ 
munities  and  in  every  corner  of  the  land. 

The  Inter-Racial  Work  has  been  and  is  one  of 
the  most  statesmanlike  and  Christlike  construc¬ 
tive  pieces  of  work  to  which  men  of  two  races 
have  ever  set  their  hands.  It  would  not  have  been 
possible  had  it  not  been  for  the  wisely  directed 
funds  of  the  Council. 

The  Americanization  work  and  the  re-employ¬ 
ment  work  carried  on  by  the  whole  chain  of  local 
Associations  and  the  general  agencies,  at  a  time 
of  hardship  and  strain,  has  led  hundreds  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  men  to  call  the  Association  blessed.  The 
work  for  our  Army  on  the  Rhine  I  wish  every 
man  here  could  inspect.  I  agree  with  two  of  the 
best  American  laymen  who  said  it  is  the  finest 
model  of  Association  work  they  had  ever  seen. 
It  is  without  doubt  our  most  finished  piece  of 
work.  Appreciative  reference  should  also  be  made 
to  the  work  among  the  scattered  units  of  the  Navy 
in  the  Mediterranean  and  the  most  encouraging 
beginnings  in  the  American  Merchant  Marine. 
This  reminds  me  of  the  regular  work  for  our 
Army  and  Navy.  You  will  recall  the  action 
of  the  late  Administration  in  saying  good-bye  to 
the  welfare  societies  within  stations  and  camps. 
We  had  fought  the  battle  to  the  last  ditch.  No¬ 
body  has  ever  blamed  us  for  not  fighting  it  as 
well  as  humans  could  fight.  I  speak  of  the  lay¬ 
men  and  secretaries  who  carried  the  struggle 
right  up  to  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  however,  that  we  have  lived 
long  enough  to  see  it  was  not  without  its  ad¬ 
vantages  that  we  were  bowed  out.  The  regular 
Army  and  Navy  work  of  the  American  Associa¬ 
tions  today  was  never  larger,  never  more  fruit¬ 
ful,  and  never  had  the  favor  of  officers  as  well 
as  men  more  than  it  has  today.  There  is  an  ad¬ 
vantage  of  getting  at  these  men  in  their  hours  of 
leisure,  away  from  posts,  camps  and  stations.  I 
am  not  unmindful  of  the  other  side  and  shall  not 
be  surprised  any  day  to  see  the  old  service  resumed 
in  many  places  just  as  we  are  now  permitted  to 
carry  it  on  in  stations  and  posts  where  we  have 
had  our  own  permanent  buildings. 

In  the  Canal  Zone,  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  in 
the  Philippines  and  on  the  coast  of  China,  this 
regular  work  of  our  Army  and  Navy  Associations 
is  a  work  beyond  praise  and  is  financed  generously 
and  wisely  by  the  funds  for  which  you  worked  so 
hard. 

I  ought  to  allude  to  the  United  War  Work  Cam¬ 
paign.  That  campaign  in  which  we  went  out  for 
$170,500,000  for  all  the  seven  welfare  socities, 
and  of  which  our  share  was  to  be  $100,000,000  has 
yielded  in  cash  over  $190,000,000.  Our  share  of 
the  $190,000,000  is  $108,500,000,  or  more  than  we 
expected  to  receive.  The  cost  of  the  campaign, 
you  will  be  interested  to  know,  was  2:19  per  cent. 


— a  little  over  two  per  cent  for  local,  state,  and 
national  expenses.  This  I  think  you  will  agree 
was  a  very  good  record.  I  understand  it  consti¬ 
tutes  the  best  showing  made  in  any  of  the  great 
war  campaigns,  governmental  or  otherwise.  The 
Association  may  well  take  pride  in  this  fact  as  it 
furnished  so  largely  the  ground  work  and  leader¬ 
ship  of  the  campaign. 

Now  coming  to  the  work  among  allied  armies 
and  prisoners  of  war  from  which  I  have  just  re¬ 
turned,  I  think  it  will  amaze  some  of  you  when 
I  remind  you  that  we  still  have  a  work  over  there 
serving  nearly,  if  not  quite,  3,000,000  men,  or 
three  times  as  many  as  in  our  total  membership 
here  at  home.  We  have  a  settled  policy  to  close 
up  that  work  as  soon  as  possible,  to  domesticate  it 
where  we  can,  to  leave  a  living  deposit  that  will 
vitalize  through  all  of  the  coming  days  the  nations 
concerned,  to  place  this  work  as  soon  as  may  be 
where  it  belongs — in  some  cases  in  the  hands  of 
our  own  Foreign  Department,  and  in  other  cases 
under  the  remote  or  immediate  supervision  of 
National  Committees  in  Europe  and  of  the 
World’s  Committee. 

You  will  be  interested  in  this  classification  of 
the  nations  with  reference  to  order  of  demobili¬ 
zation  or  transfer  of  our  war  and  post-war  work. 
This  year  we  have  closed  up  our  work  or  handed 
it  over  to  the  Foreign  Department  in  Portugal, 
Egypt,  among  the  Chinese  in  France  and  Asia, 
among  the  Indians  everywhere,  and  among  armies 
in  Latin  America. 

The  second  group  is  France  and  Italy.  We  have 
made  our  final  appropriation  to  those  two  great 
pieces  of  work,  of  which  we  are  justly  so  proud. 

The  third  group  presents  more  difficulties  as  to 
demobilizing.  It  embraces  the  old  Turkish  areas, 
the  Russian  young  men  everywhere,  Roumania, 
the  New  Greece — found  in  large  part  on  the  main¬ 
land  of  Asia — and  Poland.  Poland  includes  largely 
the  old  Russian  Poland.  According  to  the  report 
of  the  Special  Commission,  led  by  Mr.  Murray  and 
Dr.  Studer  of  Detroit,  the  work  in  Roumania  and 
Greece,  should  some  day  and  as  soon  as  possible, 
go  to  the  Foreign  Department.  The  Turkish 
areas  and  Russian  areas,  (including  Russian  Pol¬ 
and),  were  already  in  the  hands  of  the  Foreign 
Department  before  the  war,  and  that  should  be 
their  ultimate  destination  and  we  hope  the  world 
will  soon  be  stabilized  so  that  it  may  be  their  early 
destination. 

There  will  be  brought  out  more  fully  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  report  of  the  Foreign  Work 
Commission  the  significance  of  this  overseas  work. 
Believe  me  when  I  say  that  there  is  no  part  of 
our  great  trust  of  which  we  should  be  more  proud 
tonight  and  which  we  should  follow  with  more 
thought  and  prayer  than  this  work — a  by-pro¬ 
duct,  you  may  say,  in  which  we  have  been  per¬ 
mitted  to  do  for  nearly  all  Europe  what  we  were 
led  out  in  other  days  by  His  beckoning  hand  to 
do  for  Asia,  Latin  America  and  parts  of  Africa. 


10 


) 


We  will  not  desert  them  in  the  trying  hour.  Time 
will  show  that  it  has  been  in  some  respects  the 
most  highly-multiplying  service  ever  rendered  by 
the  North  American  Associations. 

My  last  word  will  be  with  reference  to  the  Plen¬ 
ary  Meeting  of  the  World’s  Committee  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  from  which  I  have  just  returned. 
Under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Karl  Fries  this  Com¬ 
mittee  has  entered  upon  a  new  era.  It  was  highly 
reassuring  to  sit  for  days  in  council  at  Utrecht 
with  the  recognized  leaders  of  this  Brotherhood 
from  twenty-five  different  nations  of  Europe, 
Asia,  Africa,  Latin  America  and  the  island  na¬ 
tions,  Australia  and  New  Zealand. 

As  we  sat  in  council  there  seemed  to  fade  from 
memory  the  bloody,  tear-stained,  tragic  years  that 
had  intervened.  I  could  hardly  believe  it  true  as 
I  found  myself  there  with  men  from  so  many 
lands  helping  to  resume  international  thinking,  in¬ 
ternational  planning,  international  action  and  in¬ 


ternational  fellowship.  It  reminded  me  of  the 
words  of  our  Saviour:  “I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will 
draw  all  men  unto  me.”  His  gaze  pierced  the  cen¬ 
turies  and  He  saw  streaming  up  to  His  cross  and 
His  living  person,  the  people  of  every  nation,  tribe 
and  kindred.  One  was  also  vividly  and  blessedly 
reminded  during  those  days  in  Holland,  as  here  to¬ 
night,  that  our  real  unity  is  discovered  and  rea¬ 
lized  best  and  only  in  and  through  Jesus  Christ. 

Thus  we  complete  this  all  too  inadequate  review 
bringing  to  memory  God’s  great  goodness  to  the 
North  American  Associations  through  another 
fateful  year.  Its  true  greatness  will  be  deter¬ 
mined  by  regarding  it  as  a  preparation  for  some¬ 
thing  far  greater  and  better. 

For  “Lo!  There  breaks  a  yet  more  glorious  day 
The  saints  triumphant  rise  in  bright  array; 

The  King  of  Glory  passes  on  His  way. 

Alleluia.” 


11 


